Re: Walt Disney World and Dineyland(s) Discussion
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/disney/orl-bk-disney-death-081709,0,6075527.story
A Walt Disney World cast member is dead after an accident this evening at Hollywood Studios.
Stunt performer Anislav Varbanov, 30, was fatally injured during a rehearsal for the " Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular." He was doing a tumbling roll after 7 p.m. when he was hurt. He was transported to the hospital and has since died.
Varbanov was rushed to Florida Hospital Celebration Health, where he was pronounced dead 8:53 p.m., Orange County sheriff's deputies said.
Monday's death was the third in less than two months.
On July 5, monorail driver Austin Wuennenberg, 21, died when another train backed into his own. He tried to back his train away, but it was too late. The Orange-Osceola medical examiner's office said there were no drugs in his system, and he died of massive trauma
On August 10, Mark Priest, 47, died from complications he experienced after a bad on-stage fall at the Magic Kingdom.
Priest was performing a mock sword fight during Captain Jack's Pirate Tutorial, an interactive show in which actors lead guests through a series of pirate-skills tests, when he stumbled on a wet spot on stage and banged into a wall, his best friend said. He appeared to be improving, but died four days later.
The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, known colloquially as "Epic" to Disney cast members, is performed several times each day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Disney performers don't impersonate Harrison Ford and Karen Allen, the lead actors from the original Indy film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, but instead demonstrate the types of stunts used to film Indy and Marian's adventures.
The 30-minute show opens with a dramatic sequence in which the actor representing Indiana Jones dodges moving spikes and swings on a rope to get to a treasure. During the rest of the presentation, cast members perform acrobatics, stage fights, dodge moving aircraft and avoid pyrotechnics. The famous rolling-ball scene is also re-created.
The show has been performed at Disney since 1989.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration as well and the Orange County Sheriff's Office have been contacted. The Sheriff's office is investigating.
"We lost a valued cast member and our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family as we mourn his passing," said Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/disney/orl-bk-disney-death-081709,0,6075527.story